Incredible news coming out of Colombia this week. Not only does Colombia and the FARC come to some sort of peace agreement, but J Balvin kicks off #VivaToday performing on the TODAY show on October 6th and now this – Will Smith comes out of music retirement, after 10 years of not recording anything since Switch, to collaborate with Colombian band Bomba Estéreo on a remix of ‘Fiesta‘!
According to many reports, Will Smith was on a recent trip to Colombia (who knows for what) when he heard the song, got all jiggy with it and then had his team reach out to the group to collaborate.
Smith on September 23rd even went out of his way to post a pic of him and the group on his official Facebook account…
I discovered the band as I was perusing Spotify a few weeks ago and couldn’t contain my emotion. It’s a mish-mosh of Colombian sounds such as cumbia, vallenato and champeta embedded with modern sounds like EDM, along with reggae and pop. The fusion is unlike anything I’ve ever heard. I didn’t even know they were Colombian until I read their bio. I had to share it on all my social media feeds too.
You can hear the remix single of Fiesta right now which was released digitally today.
The funny thing is that ‘Fiesta’ isn’t even the best song on Bomba Estereo’s new album ‘Amanecer’. Their title track is perhaps the most impressive followed by Somos Dos, Algo Está Cambiando and Mar (Lo que siento). The whole album is great, which is why it’s nominated for Record of the Year and Best Alternative Music album at next month’s Latin Grammy Awards.
The collaboration marks Smith’s return to music since his 2005 album, Lost and Found. You can hear Smith rap in both English and Spanish on the song and that is mostly because of his LOVE for Spanish and the Latin culture. Here’s a sample of why I personally know that:
I can’t wait to see the music video of Fiesta he shot recently with the band coming out soon!
Bomba Estéreo includes singer Liliana Saumet, drummer Andrés Zea and multi-instrumentalist Julian Salazar. They formed in 2005 and have performed at major music festivals, including Coachella, Glastonbury and Lollapalooza.
The 16th annual Latin Grammys will air live on Nov. 19 on Univision from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.